Chapter Text
The blazing sun is basking in the lush jungle, trees swaying back and forth in rhythm with each other. Everything felt like it was spinning nonstop. My body felt unnatural in all sorts of ways. When I groggily opened my eyes, I first wondered where I was. It certainly didn’t feel like home, at least not relatively close to it. Thoughts were racing in my head; my brain trying to remember anything. But only my name. At least, that was all I could remember. I took a few steps forward with whatever energy I had remaining, and then I felt it: the unnerving sensation of being parched.
“Water,” I told myself. “I need… water…”
As I tried to pull myself to walk more, the exhaustion was too much. I put myself in a crawling position with whatever remaining strength I had left. There was a water source not too far from here. The craving sensation of fresh water was just mere feet away from my position. The crawl was a slog, but I managed to pull myself towards the nearby river. I forced my head down into the water, but not enough to actually submerge it completely. My only focus was to drink as much as I could. The nutrients felt like a wave of sports drinks washing all over the insides of my body, giving me the proper minerals and vitamins to stand.
“Phew,” I gasped as I retracted my head out from the water, “I dunno what was in that water, but I feel good. Great even!”
My eyesight was getting clearer, and I could view the green leaves in the trees, the grain wood casting shadows on the ground, my own reflection in the river… Wait, my reflection?!
“Wh- What?!” I looked back at the rippling reflection as I screamed my thoughts out loud and went into a panic. My body was covered in an aqua teal fur coat with a pale yellowish shell stuck to my belly. My arms, if they were even called arms, were now two white round stubs. On one of the arms was a peculiar blue band with a rainbow gem attached. My head felt rounder and fluffier, while my ears were triangular and also gained a little fluff. Most particular in fact was my new appendage, full of dark blue fluff and decently long for my new height. “No no no, this can’t be happening! Why am I a Pokemon?! WHAAAAAAAT?!”
As I tried to compose myself, my attention gazed over to a few alien-shaped creatures. Their arms were attached with three colored digits that seemed to be synced up with each other as they glowed. A trio pair of green eyes stared back at me, which made me stumble backwards as a reflex action.
“Uh! What do you want from me?” I asked the three aliens. “What’s going on?! Did you do this to me?!”
I did not get any straight answers from these strange-looking creatures. The three turned to each other, looking like they were plotting something nasty. Once they gazed their stares back at me, their arms held straight out, the colored orbs flashing in unison almost like a command of sorts. Then suddenly, they attacked. Their movements were so fast I didn’t have time to move out of the way before receiving a few punches to the face. After the third strike, I knew it was time to hightail it out of here. Using my new dark blue flippers for feet, I ran as fast as I could, making sure to get far away from the hostile aliens. Oxygen was escaping my lungs as I took off. It wouldn’t be multiple seconds later when I bumped into another creature: one with a humanoid structure, a long nose, and a giant leaf hanging on its round head.
“Agh! Hey, watch where you’re going!” The creature spoke up. When I heard those words, my mind was racing.
“Ah!” I flinched. “You- You’re talking?!”
“Of course we can talk,” a creature next to it spoke. This one looked more fierce, with a red crown, collar and ears, with a dark bluish-black fur coat and three sharp claws on each hand. Around his neck was a necklace; the base of it shaped like a gear with stone textures and a peculiar blue glow. “What are you in a hurry for, kid?”
I hurriedly explained my situation to the two. “Hah… Hah… There’s three aliens after me… and I’m almost out of breath…”
The two looked at each other, clueless at my choice of words before the weasel spoke again. “What… the heck… is an alien?”
Before the other creature could answer, the three hostiles from before reappeared. They were definitely not looking for a negotiation attempt.
“T- That’s them!” I yelled, hiding behind the weasel creature for protection. For some reason, I felt… safe. Maybe it was the warmth of the pale fur that kept me at ease as I hugged one of its legs. The other creature was itching for a fight.
“Take the Oshawott somewhere safe!” It shouted. “I’ll catch up after I deal with these posers!”
“You’re gonna be alright all by yourself?!” The weasel responded.
“I can take them! Now GET GOING!”
The weasel carried me in his arms, forcing me to release my leg hug. When I looked back, the other creatures were getting smaller. My mind was racing at what seemed like a million miles an hour. I only just got here, totally oblivious of being suddenly attacked, and now I was being carried like a stuffed doll.
After what seemed like several minutes, we both stopped at an opening in the middle of the lush forest. The weasel released me back to ground level before it spoke again. “I’m glad we got away from them. That diversion should give us enough time for introductions.”
I staggered a bit before speaking up. “Huuuh? But we hardly know each other!"
“That’s my point,” the weasel responded. “So… Got a name?”
“A name? Oh yeah! Uhh…” I thought long and hard about my name. I couldn’t dwell about as a nameless Pokemon after all. Thankfully it was only one of the things I remembered about myself. “My name is, uhh… Umm… Josh.”
The weasel pondered over my name for a bit before he spoke again. “Intriguing name for a kid like you… Eh, I’ll go with it. The name’s Vince. My life’s kind of uhh complicated, but I can’t go too deep into it.”
Before I could ask what was happening, we could both hear a distant explosion from where we were running away from. Those aliens must have packed a lot of heavy punches with them. “Damn it damn it DAMN IT!” Vince shouted. The path ahead looked like it led to a secret jungle. “That damn Ampharos didn’t tell me there was a mystery dungeon here… Tch… Josh, you better follow me. Hope you can keep up!”
Did he just say mystery dungeon? What even is that? As I pondered the meaning of whatever that term was, I followed Vince into the mysterious jungle up ahead. As we were running along, the air was getting rather tense. The area around us felt like it was warping, and not in a good way. Behind us, lush green leaves enclosed the pathway we just entered from. There was no going back.
“Vince?” I asked. “What’s going on? What is this place?!”
Vince sighed before he retorted back to me. “We’re in a mystery dungeon, Josh. These are places that no sane Pokemon would ever explore-”
“Wait, wait… So we’re both insane?!”
“N-No, Josh, I was just-”
“WE’RE BOTH INSANE! I JUST GOT HERE AND THE FIRST THING I DO IS TAG ALONG WITH YOU IN… WHEREVER THIS IS!”
“Josh…”
“YOU BROUGHT US BOTH HERE! I DON’T EVEN REMEMBER A SINGLE THING EXCEPT FOR MY NAME-”
“Josh, JOSH!” My freakout started to subside before Vince continued. “Okay, look, we’re in a dungeon, alright? Officially, this place is named Open Pass. Thankfully, there’s only low-level Pokemon here. Sigh, if it’s really that bad as you think it is, I can teach you how to survive out here.”
Those words caught my attention. I can survive in these dungeon places? I don’t even know how to fend for myself! But I followed him despite my own panic thoughts. He led me through different paths and alleyways before we both got stopped by a peculiar looking bird with non-existent wings. It had two heads attached to long black necks.
“Uhhhh, A TWO-HEADED BIRD THING?!” I screamed in desperation.
“That’s a Doduo,” Vince told me, “now stand back and watch. This is how I deal with opponents!”
Vince lined himself up for what looked like a slashing attack with his claws. He lunged forwards, his right set of claws rapidly piercing vertically into the bird’s stomach, before it could notice. As soon as Vince landed, he swiftly bounced backwards, leaving the enemy creature with an open stomach and a pair of widened eyes, passing out rapidly as it fell and succumbed. I was left stunned as I watched the events that unfolded seconds ago. How powerful was that attack to begin with?! But what confused me even more was that the Doduo… disappeared? It was almost like it faded away from existence.
“It just… vanished?” I audibly expressed my confusion.
“When a feral gets knocked out,” Vince explained, “it usually disappears away from here. It’s sort of like they’re real but they’re also not at the same time.”
“But…” It took me a few seconds to think about what I should say next before I spoke up again. “What you just did was really cool, Vince! That must have been really powerful!”
“Well I’m sure you know some attacks yourself, right Josh?”
“What?! I-I don’t know how to battle, let alone use an attack like the one you just did!”
“YOU DON’T?! Ugh, jeez… Okay, well, why don’t we find another feral Pokemon for you? You gotta get some battle experience after all.”
Reluctantly, I accepted Vince’s offer and we moved on. We moved through a couple of rooms until I spotted something peculiar. A set of what looked like stairs was just sitting there in the middle of the room we were in.
“Stairs? I-In a dungeon?” I asked in a not-so-confident tone.
“Yep,” Vince replied, “we use these stairs to move up or down in a dungeon. It usually depends on where the dungeon is located and what sort of anomalies are in said dungeon.”
As I pondered over that thought, we both climbed down the stairs to the second floor. Right after I climbed the full set, the stairs seemed to disappear behind me. My hunch from earlier was right. There was no going back. We moved through some more pathways, admiring the lush green trees and bushes laid out as we went. In the following room ahead, Vince stopped in his tracks suddenly, causing me to bump into him which only aggravated him slightly. He scouts the room and finds a peculiar-looking berry on the grassy floor. It was mainly blue with darker blue spots all around and a green top. It didn’t look like any other regular fruit that I’ve seen before.
“Here, Josh,” Vince said as he handed the berry over to me, “this can help regain your health when you’re in a pinch.”
“That sounds very specific, but okay then,” I retorted back.
We continued our venture through the Lush Forest dungeon. In the next room ahead, we stumbled upon an orange insect-looking creature with two mushrooms sticking out from its backside.
“Why don’t you take this one?” Vince asked me. “This Paras doesn’t look too scary for you.”
I stepped up in front of Vince, the Paras looking on as I stared back at its sharp red irises. It wasn’t doing anything, almost as if it wanted me to attack first. I set down the oran berry I was holding near my right foot. I launched myself forwards shoulders first, making a beeline right into the feral Paras. I jumped myself back almost instinctively as the feral regained its composure for its attack. The feral creature launched itself towards me, using its foremost legs and the sharp claws at the ends to scratch up my body. One of the claws pierced right at my right arm, causing me to wince in pain.
Vince was giving me words of encouragement, pleading for me to keep fighting. And so I did, with a buildup of water inside my body that I haven’t felt before. Concentrating hard enough, I squirted out a burst of water at the feral Paras, which knocked it back down to the grassy floor. Just like the Doduo from before, it also disappeared after it fainted. Vince checked me for any other marks or injuries.
“Everything okay?” Vince asked as he looked over one of my arms.
“Yeah…” I responded. “At least, for the most part…”
“Looks like that bug scratched you pretty good, huh? You should be thankful it’s nothing too serious.”
“What did I even just do there? Did I just shoot water from my mouth?!"
“That’s what we call a Water Gun. It’s pretty common for water-types like you to learn that kind of starting move."
As I picked up the oran berry Vince gave me previously, we made our way through more alleyways and rooms throughout the floor. Luckily there were no other ferals in the area, at least ones that were awake. In the current room we were in, we spotted a sleeping fluffy orb whose eyes were covered in fluff, a nose with a black heart engraved on it, and a pair of black wings to top it all off.
Vince lowered his voice before he spoke again, but his tone sounded almost like he wanted to be stealthy. “Keep your voice down…” The Weavile began to walk more so in a stealthy manner. I raised an eyebrow as I watched Vince sneak past the snoozing bat almost effortlessly. I guessed it was only natural for a sly creature like him to breeze past that feral. But now it was my turn. Vince was looking on towards me expectantly. I looked back at the sleeping cat in question. It was still dozing off without a care in the world. My feet were stuck and I was shaking. I didn’t know what to do if I inadvertently woke up the sleeping feral.
Taking slow steps, I took my time trying to scoot past the feral using the tips of my feet. My body almost took a nosedive as I almost tripped over another berry. Surviving out here was trickier than I thought. I looked back at the sleeping feral to make sure I didn’t tick it off. It was still fast asleep, even letting out a yawn. I took a couple deep breaths and an exasperated sigh before continuing to tiptoe my way to the stairs, which only took me about a minute. When I finally reached the stairs, I wanted to let out a loud “Yippee,” but Vince quickly covered my mouth with one of his hands, muffling my would-be noises. He shook his head and gave a little tilt nod towards the sleeping cat.
Once my excitement burst subsided, we both went down the stairs and were greeted by a clearing up ahead. The green leaves on the trees were glistening in the sunlight as we both took a moment to catch our breaths.
“Jeez…” Vince gasped as he took one long deep breath before speaking again. “Well, at least we can catch a break here. Ugh, of all the times to get caught up with a kid, it had to be now…”
A kid? Did he just call me a kid? But what Vince asked me next made me jump almost instinctively. “Did you do ANYTHING with those Beheeyem back there before we arrived?!”
“W-What?! No!” I responded. “I don’t even know why they attacked me to begin with!”
“Well whatever happened, those attacks got me caught up in your mess!”
And then… I snapped. “THAT’S NOT WHAT WE SHOULD BE FOCUSING ON!”
Vince froze, almost as if he was expecting me to continue. And so I did. “I… I don’t remember anything else except for my name! And well, if that wasn’t enough… I’m a human!”
“I’m sorry, did you just say human?”
Before I could answer him back, we both heard those familiar flickers that I witnessed firsthand. It was those Beheeyem again, and they were closing in.
“Damn it, damn it,” Vince audibly expressed his frustration. “We better get moving! Get in gear!”
Vince dashed off and I followed suit shortly after. Did he really have to say that cheesy line while we were being hunted down? As we were running for our lives, I clutched the oran berry I was holding onto, hoping it wouldn’t fall from my grip. Up ahead was another entrance to a mystery dungeon. Once again, I felt the entire area warp uncontrollably as we entered. It appeared to be similar to the last dungeon, with lush green scenery all around with some patches of dirt scattered about. The Weavile standing next to me gave me a playful elbow punch to my side before I looked back at him.
“So… Think you learned a thing or two from me?” Vince questioned me.
“I guess so,” I responded back. “I’m just hoping not every uhhh… What’s that term again?”
“Mystery dungeon.”
“I’m hoping not every mystery dungeon is like this.”
“Don’t say it like that! Every dungeon has a different environment. I think I would better explain it once we’re outside of here.”
“So what do we do now?”
“Well, we’re in Lush Forest now… Why don’t you take the reins as leader?”
“Uh! Well, okay! Sure!”
I sheepishly took over as the dungeon exploration leader. It was kind of scary trying to lead someone who is just over twice as tall as my height can allow. I couldn’t wait to get out of this dungeon, so I started dashing through the paths and rooms that were available to me. Vince was impressed at my speed, so much so that he decided to follow suit, trying to match my pace while also not going too fast in the process. We were fortunate enough not to run into any ferals on this floor before we bumped into the stairs.
After we reached the top of the set, we were immediately greeted by another set of stairs. I was left a little perplexed at the sight of it, so I had to consult my Weavile partner. “Hey, Vince? We just climbed the stairs and there’s another set already?”
Vince answered me back as we were starting to climb the next set of stairs in front of us. “Yeaaaah, that will happen sometimes. Well, actually, in every dungeon, the floor layout changes randomly each time you venture into one. It won’t always be the same each time.”
As we reached the top of the stairs, I scouted the room we were in for any signs of ferals or items. There was nothing in sight but an empty room, and a big one at that. We carried on through the current floor, where we stumbled upon a long but big reptilian snake with black scales and yellow crests. My body jumped as I witnessed two elongated red fangs nearly come crashing down my chest. Vince decided to charge ahead, his claws surrounded with a sort of metallic aura to give the illusion of sharper claws. The Weavile slashed at the snake’s abdomen, creating a few direct marks where the yellow body marks would be. Once Vince jumped back, I stepped up.
“Aim for the weak parts!” Vince shouted as I went on the assault. I charged forward towards the snake, throwing my shoulder right into where the Weavile striked, making the snake stagger and fall to the ground. Just like the other ferals we faced before, it also disappeared into nothing.
“What was that creature just now?” I asked Vince dumbfoundedly.
“That was a Seviper,” Vince responded. “They’re pretty much native to these parts.”
I stretched my body for some seconds before we moved on, some areas making slight pop noises that only I could hear. We snaked through a couple more pathways and rooms before arriving in a long and narrow room with a few items scattered about on the grassy ground and a set of stairs in the middle. My eyes averted sideways to a peculiar-shaped seed. It was almost like a wooden arrow with a yellow core in the center.
“What’s this item?” I ask as I go over to pick up the seed in question.
Vince took the seed from my hands, or what used to be my hands, before answering. “It’s a Quick Seed. This boosts your agility, but only for a short amount of time. It usually lasts for about five ticks before it wears out.”
I started getting lost in my head as to what he said after he mentioned ‘ticks’. How long is that in minutes I wonder? How is time even determined in this world? I was so lost in my train of thought questions that I almost didn’t hear Vince’s voice calling to me.
“Josh? Josh!” I snapped out of it once I felt a few bops to the head. “Are you lost in space or something?”
“Oh! Sorry, Vince…” I apologized before we moved up to what was supposedly the last floor in this dungeon. By this point, I was starting to get the hang of certain actions like using moves even when there aren’t any ferals around. I didn’t get any stronger this way, but it was nice to practice around even if Vince got slightly irritated by it. We ventured on, Vince asking me to slow down every time I went faster. Admittedly, I was very much giddy and eager to finish exploring this dungeon, but I had to keep it in check.
Running through the grassy terrains, we breezed through the last floor, avoiding any ferals as we went by. As soon as we reached the stairs, I stopped short of climbing the last set to catch my breath. All of this running was starting to take a toll on my body. Vince came over to examine my exhausted condition. I was gasping for whatever air was available in this environment. The Weavile grew worried that I wouldn’t be able to climb the last set.
“Hey, hey,” Vince said as he wrapped an arm around me, “slow down your breathing. Watch me.”
The Weavile spun me around until I was looking right at him. Vince took a couple of deep breaths for demonstration. He gestured with his head for me to do the same breathing patterns as him. As I mimicked him for a little bit, my heart started to slow down from its rapid pace. We kept going for another minute before Vince patted the back of my head. He stole a glance at one of my arms, before looking back at me.
“Breathing okay now?” Vince asked.
“I guess so,” I answered back. “You said this is the last-”
“What is that looplet doing on your arm?”
“Loop- what? Is… Is that what this thing is?”
“Well, yeah! I don’t normally see one with only one slot engraved. Wait a minute… How do you already have an Awakening?!”
Vince was asking these questions almost as if I was playing like a bad guy. I didn’t know where I got this looplet and crystal thing and lying was out of the question, so I had to just tell it to Vince straight. “I don’t know! I just woke up with it!”
The Weavile raised an eyebrow as soon as I muttered the truth to him. He didn’t know whether to believe me or not. After all, Vince was still trying to get over the fact that I was human before.
“Well, I dunno how to tell ya this…” Vince hesitated for a moment before he spoke again. “I guess… I- I believe you.”
I left my mouth agape for some seconds before I regained my composure. “Y- You do?”
“I mean, yeah! When I think about it, it all sort of adds up.”
“Uhhh, can we discuss it more once we’re out? We’ve been standing here for a while now.”
“Oh, right… Finally we can get out of this dump. That Nuzleaf had better be alright…”
Nuzleaf? Was that who that other creature was? As I pondered that thought to myself, we climbed up the final set of stairs in this dungeon. Once we made it past the clearing, I was more than ready to continue our conversation from minutes ago.
“So what was it again about everything adding up, Vince?” I asked as we were walking away from the last floor of the dungeon.
“Well,” Vince explained, “the fact that you said you were human and that looplet on your arm? Something tells me you came here for a reason.”
I wanted to ask about the stone necklace he was wearing, but we were interrupted by the other creature from earlier. It looked like it was exhausted from all of that combat from earlier.
“Well, you took your sweet time,” Vince remarked. “What happened back there?”
“They outnumbered me,” the Nuzleaf explained. “Those Beheeyem are too much to handle, even with all three of us!” It then turned its attention to me. “Why did THIS otter kid rile them up?!”
Vince got close to the Nuzleaf, almost with a protective instinct. “Hey, lay off him! You know this whole thing isn’t his fault!” The Nuzleaf couldn’t say anything back to Vince. He could only stare back at the Weavile sternly. I was shaking uncontrollably. That Nuzleaf had no reason to blame me for moments ago! Vince crossed his arms before speaking again. “The least you could do now is introduce yourself to him.”
The Nuzleaf was hesitant at first as it stole a glance right at me. “Please… Call me Nadhani. And uh, sorry for snapping at you.”
“I’m Josh,” I replied back. “N- Nice to meet you.”
“And you already know me,” Vince remarked again. “Wait, hold on… Josh, what are you gonna do now? You don’t really have a place to stay at all, do ya?”
I shook my head. I never considered where I was going to sleep, let alone reside with this new body. My worries were starting to show on my face. However, Nadhani made a rather striking suggestion. “Why don’t we just leave him behind?” Just hearing those words along felt like a huge blow to me. Vince, needless to say, didn’t take it pretty well. “What?! You’d rather leave this otter out in the middle of Arceus knows where to survive on his own?! HE’S JUST A KID!!” They both stared back at me, their eyes meeting my own teary eyes. It’s not like I’m the center of the universe or anything… But I guess, whatever emotion I had back there didn't seem to have convinced Nadhani to change course. “No,” the Weavile spoke. “Nadhani, can I take him into my house? It’s the least that anyone can do at this point!”
“Hold on there,” Nadhani interrupted, not convinced that his idea would work. “I don’t think that there snappy Carracosta would handle dealing with two troublemakers at once.”
“I’m sorry?!” Vince said. “I’m not a troublemaker! Josh certainly isn’t one either! Even if I do live with him, I can take care of myself just fine!”
“Although… I could have him stay at my place. It’s been getting lonely there anyway.”
"Alright, fine… Let’s just get out of here.”
The three of us, all freshly introduced, moved on together. I couldn’t tell if this altogether was fate or destiny. As for Nadhani, well… I don’t know if we’ll get along in the long run. Then again, I guess first impressions aren’t always everything. We trekked through the path laid out in front of us, gazing upon the grassy terrains as we went by. The hills were as rugged as ever. Just as we were about to turn the corner down the path, Vince and Nadhani stopped short to look at the distant view. I almost bumped myself into the Weavile again before I was seeing what they were seeing. It was almost like… an entire small town!
“Take a good look at it, Josh,” Vince said. The distant area looked somewhat lively in a way, with various buildings that look built almost in a primitive way.
“What is that place?” I asked sheepishly.
“Serene Village,” Nadhani answered. “This is where we make our living. We should be nearly there now!”
“Good,” Vince replied, “then let’s push on!”
We trekked on through the rest of the path. It’s kind of funny though. I used to be a human, but now I’m a Pokémon. An Oshawott to be exact. I have this whole new world to settle in, new friends to connect with, and new adventures to go on. One thing’s for certain: I have a bunch of mysteries to unravel.